Comments Thread For: Nelson Says HBO Will Have Open Door To All Promoters

[OnePunch]

One Punch -

Has nothing to do with regional fanbases. Look at the ratings for NATIONALLY televised games. An NHL game might do 250,000 viewers and NBC pays out the ass for the NHL rights.

Many people have been pitching broadcast networks for buy content, but none of them locked up hundreds of fighters, dozens of champions, spent $500 million to get them TV exposure and packaged a brand that could eventually give a network the boxing equivalent of the NFL, NBA or UFC.

So yes, it is dramatically different than what has been pitched over and over again. Not to mention, when HBO was spending $100 million a year on boxing instead of $30 million, sticking with the status quo was far more enticing.

But now, in 2015 and beyond, the only way boxing can grow is to leave HBO behind and get a TV deal like any other successful sports league would get.

If you find it unlikely, that's cool. There's no guarantee it's going to work, but I think Haymon should be given some benefit of the doubt based on his previous success, his clear brilliance and the fact that he's continuing to accumulate so many pieces.

Obviously Top Rank isn't happy about Haymon accumulating so much power, but that doesn't mean Haymon is breaking the law. How well is the second most successful basketball league doing? How well is the second most successful MMA league doing? Doesn't mean any laws are being broken.

I'd be happy to have a respectful discussion, but respect is a two way street. I don't know everything about every business on the planet, but I do own several businesses and even a burger flipper should realize that when an investor gives you $500 million, they are doing so to acquire a stake in your company. You're acting like Haymon was gifted $500 million and that W&R wasn't buying into Haymon's company, which is ridiculous.

oh boy, here we go again. I NEVER claimed that. All I did was refute the absurd claim that Haymon kicks back 100% of his management fees to Waddell. Whatever. Im done with it. I'll leave it for you big time business experts to figure out..........

[bigdunny1]

is it possible that a self made millionaire harvard business grad that is one of the smartest and successful people in all of entertainment might, just possibly, see things you don't see?

and that your inability to see how this is going to work, based on your limited info, with no idea what his plan is, does not mean it's not going to work?

is that possible? that al haymon is smarter than you are? a deeper thinker than you are? a big picture guy that looks at the landscape differently than you do?

is that possible?

Yes there are smart business men who fail on investments EVERY day. Limited info? Have the PBC ratings been good? Are they trending up or down? If we are scoring today Dec 2nd 2015 has PBC been successful? Please answer those questions. Your only fallback is haymon is a smart man yet there are men more intelligent then him with a greater track record of success who have failed in investments. That means nothing and doesn't make you immune to failing on future investments.

PBC is not dead yet and has time to rebound but if they keep going on the track they are on they will fold and that's because so far the things people thought haymon could accomplish this year when PBC launched he hasn't come close to reaching the most important thing he needed to prove is that he could get the ratings and he hasnt. And I don't see what is the innovative game changer haymon has to turn the ratings around. If you do please tell me what you think it will be?

[OnePunch]

Yes there are smart business men who fail on investments EVERY day. Limited info? Have the PBC ratings been good? Are they trending up or down? If we are scoring today Dec 2nd 2015 has PBC been successful? Please answer those questions. Your only fallback is haymon is a smart man yet there are men more intelligent then him with a greater track record of success who have failed in investments. That means nothing and doesn't make you immune to failing on future investments.

PBC is not dead yet and has time to rebound but if they keep going on the track they are on they will fold and that's because so far the things people thought haymon could accomplish this year when PBC launched he hasn't come close to reaching the most important thing he needed to prove is that he could get the ratings and he hasnt. And I don't see what is the innovative game changer haymon has to turn the ratings around. If you do please tell me what you think it will be?

You dont see it???

Really??

Its so obvious


Its........




ERISLANDY LARA!!!!!

[HeroBando]

Big Dunny -

If you're baffled, maybe someone will help explain what you're confused by and if not, you'll just have to remain baffled. Haymon is not speaking and just because you don't understand what he's up to doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing.

Right now, Haymon is getting his fighters TV exposure. We both know there are fights he could make right now that would do 3 million viewers on NBC, but if he blows through all of those fights NOW, how does that help him when the time to land a paid TV deal is still far away?

Just because you say the ratings are a trainwreck doesn't make it so. If a hockey game does 235k and a fight does 500k, it's a trainwreck compared to what exactly?

Haymon has gotten big ratings on network TV. Over 4 million people saw Keith Thurman, a guy who was relatively unknown to the general public previously.

Haymon blowing through all of his biggest fights week after week would be ludicrous and he'd be killing off most of his talent.

Right now, he's accumulating power. That means protecting his guys, getting more belts, growing his stable.

The payoff is when the time comes to sell the exclusive rights to PBC. How many champions can he develop between now and then. How many guys can he get to sign with him between now and then. He's taking his time.

But hey, you're "baffled," so clearly he doesn't know what he's doing.

Train wreck compared to Fnf, which was getting almost the same ratings for 30x less. That's a better gauge than the NHL, with strong regional following and an 80 game season for the local team

[bigdunny1]

Yes it's baffling you saying haymon could easily do something he has proven he can't do all year. And stop comparing NHL or any team sport with a long built in fan base to those indvidual teams to a new boxing league haymon is trying to create. So many holes in that. This would be like if somebody tried to create new pro hockey league to compete with NHL despite having no fan base for any of these new teams. That's more accurate to what haymon is doing and instead of networks paying him he is paying the networks for the time buy and getting crap ratings that are draining his investors millions each event they put on. But you think somehow despite proving he can consistently draw high ratings there will be an imaginary bidding war for this failing product because he's telling networks don't worry about these tanking ratings "if I really want I can pull 3mil viewers out my @ss". Come on man do you hear what you are saying? lol

[OnePunch]

Yes it's baffling you saying haymon could easily do something he has proven he can't do all year. And stop comparing NHL or any team sport with a long built in fan base to those indvidual teams to a new boxing league haymon is trying to create. So many holes in that. This would be like if somebody tried to create new pro hockey league to compete with NHL despite having no fan base for any of these new teams. That's more accurate to what haymon is doing and instead of networks paying him he is paying the networks for the time buy and getting crap ratings that are draining his investors millions each event they put on. But you think somehow despite proving he can consistently draw high ratings there will be an imaginary bidding war for this failing product because he's telling networks don't worry about these tanking ratings "if I really want I can pull 3mil viewers out my @ss". Come on man do you hear what you are saying? lol

"but but but but harvard doe"

lol

[HeroBando]

was talking ratings for a NATIONALLY televised NHL game. the point is that even though the NHL ratings aren't high, their TV deal is still worth a fortune. there is a premium placed on live sports and the TV deals being given out for sports rights eclipse HBO's boxing budget many times over. so if you wanted to make big money with boxing, you have to leave HBO in the dust and try to get a network deal.

yes, the night before thanksgiving with a fighter most people don't know taking on a complete nobody is only going to do 400-500k viewers, but thing about that for a second. a nationally televised hockey game might do HALF of what some random fight nobody cares about will do. so clearly, if somebody can package boxing like a traditional sports league, there is a good chance of landing a rights deal. it's obviously an expensive proposition, but haymon found someone to put up the money.

but don't forget cruz & mares peaked at 1.6 million viewers on espn. friday night fights was never going to do numbers like that in a million years.

people will watch big fights. more people will watch big fights if the big fights stop being put behind a paywall. but you can't expect everything to change overnight.

when you're trying to build a dominant business, sometimes you have to overpay for talent. it's an investment. but let's see what haymon's toy collection looks like in three years.

because he may very well have 35 world champions locked up, which is like half of the entire sport. meanwhile, everybody else is fighting over their piece of the shrinking HBO pie. so if you want to fight on TV, you'll have to sign with haymon.

it's not about the rating lara does on a random wednesday in 2015. it's about how many of the top champions and contenders haymon has in 2018 and it seems he's well on his way.

It's not just Lara, most of their best cards did fnf numbers for tons more in purse, see Fonfara Cleverly for example.

Pbc is probably not gonna be around by 2018 so not sure what he's gonna do with all these champs and contenders. Hell even Haymons best case scenario can't support all those expenditures

[wlliam]

Lets hope Nelsoon doesnt get caught up in all this alliance BS that sours the sport and left it fractured. Fractured. Perfect word to describe the state of boxing atm. Arum had that last guy bent over and he was too involved with the politics of the sport which why i believe he "stepped down"..it only hurt HBO workn with select and limited promoters.

[Eff Pandas]

i think if you familiarize yourself more with the kind of ratings the NHL does and how much NBC pays for the NHL, you'll realize PBC's ratings will attract suitors.

right now PBC is flooding the market to monopolize TV deals and keep fighters busy. when they want to pull a big rating, they just have to put on a big fight and millions will watch.

if & when the time comes to land a paid TV deal for PBC, which is at least a couple years away, they won't be running as many shows as they're running now. they're having to run all of these random shows to lock up these TV deals. if PBC didn't get the spike deal, someone else would have. if they didn't get the FS1 deal, someone else would have. if they didn't get the ESPN deal, others would still be on ESPN. etc etc.

it's not ideal for ratings to have to run so many shows, but they need to in the short term to keep others locked out.

but let's not forget that thurman vs guerrero peaked with 4.2 million viewers. garcia vs peterson peaked with 3.4 million viewers. go check out what regular season MLB, NHL & NBA games do and you'll realize the bar isn't as high as you think it is.

Why the f#ck do you keep quoting me on **** other people said?

[Eff Pandas]

Yeah I might later, just surprised I missed it completely, I sometimes miss fights but at least I keep track of the results, but this time I had no idea it even happened. Fury beating Vlad must have overshadowed pretty much everything that day.

LOL yea that was pretty busy day.